The Demolition Of The American Folk Art Museum Is Facing Tough Criticism

The Museum of Modern Art is facing backlash after announcing Jan. 8 that the adjacent American Folk Art Museum will be demolished to accommodate its own expansion.

"I'm very disappointed," Robert A. M. Stern, the dean of Yale's School of Architecture, told The New York Times earlier this month. "Justice has not been served.

"It's a work of art, especially the facade," he added. The Folk Art building, designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, opened in 2001 and features a textured bronze exterior.

MoMA announced in April of 2013 that it planned to demolish the museum but reconsidered after protests from architects and others. Architecture firm Diller Scofidio & Renfro reevaluated the space and determined it was unworkable.

The decision was praised by Thom Mayne, who designed the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art's new building in Manhattan. Mayne told The New York Times that a populist approach to expansion was the right choice for MoMA — the museum is already crowded and room needs to be made for the artwork of the 21st century.

The expansion by MoMA is understood but the demolition of The American Folk Art Museum represents something far larger in the eyes of some.

"A city that allows such a work to disappear after barely a dozen years is a city with a flawed architectural heart," Paul Goldberger wrote on Vanity Fair's website. "Tearing down the folk-art museum may make sense by MoMA's measure of things, but it is hard to see how it makes New York a better place."

Part of Williams and Tsien's statement, which can be found in The Architect's Newspaper, included a sentence about the what the demolition of their building would mean for the city.

"The Folk Art building was designed to respond to the fabric of the neighborhood and create a building that felt both appropriate and yet also extraordinary. Demolishing this human‐scaled, uniquely crafted building is a loss to the city of New York in terms of respecting the size, diversity and texture of buildings in a midtown neighborhood that is at risk of becoming increasingly homogenized."